The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi said the Service is collaborating with manufacturers across the country to discourage stockpiling and guarantee the availability of strategic grains in the market.
He stated this in Kano on Friday during a working visit at the Kano/Jigawa Area Command Headquarters, Bompai, Kano.
Adeniyi, said the effort is in line with president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive of ensuring food security in the country and to alleviate the current economic hardship.
“The government has introduced measures aimed at ensuring food
security, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive for Customs to distribute seized smuggled food items to the public”.
“We are collaborating with manufacturers to deter stockpiling and guarantee the availability of strategic grains in the market”.
According to him, the Customs serves a critical function in the economy, operating as the forefront agency entrusted with the implementation of the government’s fiscal policies.
“We bear the responsibility of safeguarding industries and sectors essential to the nation’s progress. Notably, we manage the nation’s borders to ensure that prohibited items do not find ways in or out of the country.
This also includes safeguarding our
agricultural sector from the entry or exit of food items with the ultimate
aim of avoiding unfair competition and ensuring food security for our citizens”.
He added that Customs maintains a vigilant stance to thwart any attempts at the illegal exportation of goods such as; beans, cassava tubers, maize, rice, yam tubers, and their derivatives.
The CG further revealed that modalities to guide the distribution of food items to the populace in the state are being perfected with the view to avoid unpleasant occurrences recorded in Lagos earlier.